Malaysia to deploy more equipment for search of missing MH370 plane

The Malaysian Government has said that it will deploy more equipment in the southern Indian Ocean area for the search for Flight MH370 which went missing four months ago.

The country's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was quoted by news24, as saying that a naval ship equipped with a multi-beam echo sounder - a device to map the ocean floor - would set sail on August 4 for the deep-sea search zone far off western Australia.

He also said that the state-owned energy firm Petronas, alongwith Deftech and Phoenix International, would deploy a towed device called a synthetic aperture sonar to scan the ocean floor.

Shipbuilder Boustead Heavy Industries, together with iXBlue Australia, would send a deep towed side scan sonar with a remotely operated vehicle, he added.

Another Malaysian vessel, which was deployed in April, will stay in the search area, he also said.

The Malaysia Airlines flight lost contact on 8 March en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.

It is believed to have veered off course and - based on satellite data analysis - to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

But an extensive Australian-led search has so far found no sign of wreckage.

Australian officials announced last month that the search would shift further south based on a review of the satellite data.

They also said the Boeing 777 was almost certainly on autopilot when it ran out of fuel and crashed.